Asus has announced a refresh of its Zenbook lineup of Intel-powered ultrabooks to accompany its new VivoBooks and VivoTabs running Windows 8. Available next month, the PC OEM is introducing six new laptop SKUs with Ivy Bridge processors and dedicated graphics cards from NVIDIA. Specifically, the Asus Zenbook UX21A, UX31A, UX32VD, UX42VS, US52VS, and U500VZ ultrabooks are coming soon with the refresh.

The UX31A Ultrabook with touch display

The new Zenbooks will have Ivy Bridge processors, up to 10GB of memory, and up to NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M graphics. They maintain the aluminum chassis of Asus’ previous generation ultrabooks but up the hardware ante. The company has expanded the lineup to include models with 11.6,” 13.3,” 14,” and 15.6” IPS displays, backlit keyboards, and multitouch trackpads. The U500VZ and UX31A can even be outfitted with capacitive touchscreen displays.

The ASUS UX42VS Zenbook

The VX42VS further includes an optical drive, but otherwise the Zenbooks source of storage lies in solid state or hybrid hard drives. Interestingly, the UX32VD and U500VZ can even be configured with two 256GB solid state drives in RAID 0 (Ryan’s favorite kind of RAID).

The ASUS UX52VS Zenbook

The following chart outlines all the known specifications. Note that several of the ultrabooks are not listed on Asus’ website yet so exact dimensions are unknown for the UX52VS and U500VZ in particular.

Zenbook

UX21A

UX31A

UX32VD

UX42VS

UX52VS

U500VZ

Dimensions

299 x 196.8 x 3 ~ 17 mm

325 x 223 x 3 ~18 mm

325 x 223 x 5.5 ~18 mm

14" tapers to 6mm

~15" tapers to 6mm

~15"

Weight

1.1 kg

1.3 kg

1.45 kg

1.5kg

2.2kg

2 kg

Processor

i5 3317U or i7 3517U

i5 3317U or i7 3517U

i5 3317U or i7 3517U

i3, i5, or i7 IVB

i5 or i7 ULV IVB

i7 std voltage

RAM

4GB

8GB*

6GB*

6GB

10GB

8GB

Graphics

HD4000

HD4000

GT620M

GT645M

GT645M

GT650M

Storage

256GB SSD

256GB SSD

2 x 256GB SSD (RAID 0)

1TB Hybrid Hard Drive

1TB Hybrid Hard Drive

2 x 256GB SSD (RAID 0)

*onboard + 1 x SODIMM

All of the new Zenbook laptops will be available in November and will come with Windows 8. Pricing will range from $699 to $1999 for the premium model (The U500VZ). Specific pricing details should become available closer to launch.

Over the weekend, HP pulled the curtain off of three new Ivy Bridge laptops on their website. What makes the three new DV series consumer laptops interesting is the inclusion of Intel's upcoming Ivy Bridge 22nm CPUs. Let's dive into the specs as we know them now.

HP DV4-5000

First up is the smallest of the bunch, the DV4-5000 series with 14" display at 1366 x 768 resolution and Windows 7 Home Premium x64. Internal hardware includes an Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7-3610QM running at 2.3 GHz, an NVIDIA GT630M graphics card, 4 GB of RAM, and a 1TB 5400rpm SATA hard drive. This model also comes with 802.11 b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth functionality, and a DVD burner. Connectivity options include two USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0 port, one HDMI, one VGA, and one RJ45 Ethernet port, along with headphone and microphone jacks.

HP DV6-7000

The HP DV6-7000 follows the same specifications as the previous DV4-5000 except it ups the display to 15.6." The Ivy Bridge i7-3610QM, NVIDIA GT630M, and 4 GB of RAM, DVD burner, and 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi (plus Bluetooth) all stay the same. The DV6-7000 further provides a bit more external connectivity options with an additional USB 3.0 port, and an extra headphone jack. It is also possible to configure it with a total of 8 GB of RAM.

HP DV7-7000

The last new Ivy Bridge powered laptop release from HP is the DV7-7000 (they really need more catch names for these things). It packs an Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7-3720QM running at 2.6 GHz, 8 GB of DDR3 1600 MHz RAM, a total of 2 TB (2 x 1 TB) of 5400rpm mechanical hard drive storage, a NVIDIA GeForce GT650M, and a Blu-ray writer and DVD reader/writer combo drive. On the outside is a 17.3" display at 1920 x 1080 resolution and four Beats Audio speakers. Connectivity options include three USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0, one HDMI, one VGA, one RJ45 Ethernet jack, two headphone jacks, and a single microphone input along with 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Although the HP website currently lists the laptops as "Ready To Buy," the links are not click-able and word on the web is that the actual launch date will be around April 8th. Further, HP will not begin shipping their Ivy Bridge laptops until April 29th according to Laptop Reviews. More information on the HP laptops can be found here.